As young Nikita apprehensively enters his military conscription, and Svetlana travels the country looking for justice for her dead son, activists rage in the street against state-led violence rooted in dedovshchina, the cruel abuse that turns boys into soldiers and is the very mechanism of fear and violence Belarus uses to control its populace.
"...Co-directors Badziaka and Mihalkovich have crafted a touching but highly distressing film....Blessed with strikingly intimate and often visceral footage it is a tough but vital watch..." —Mark Adams, Business Doc Europe
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"...It's tense, essential filmmaking which, with its stormy colour palette and wintry gloom, gives a mounting sense of oppressive tension...This is a textured, layered documentary that builds into a multi-faceted portrait of a country..." —Wendy Ide, Screen Daily